


The Bat

by PanPacificPines



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batman's greatest secret, Gen, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 15:04:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5932672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanPacificPines/pseuds/PanPacificPines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Batman lays beaten and broken and while the Riddler gloats over his victory, Batman knows something that might change the game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bat

**Author's Note:**

> I doubt I'll be writing anything like this again. I just felt the sudden urge to write it so I banged it out. If anyone reads it I hope they like my take on the Batman.

“Shattered femur and a twisted ankle, some rather severe skin lacerations, ooh and I mean severe. I’d get some stitches in were I you. Oh and three-“ A jab at his side with the butt end of that damned question mark walking stick brought a groan and shockwaves of pain radiating out from where it’d touched. “-Oh no, more like four or five broken ribs. Tsk, tsk Batsy, I thought you were better than that. You could have at least left some of my traps un-triggered. What’s the matter, worried that one of your little helpers might slip and get an ouchie? Ha! As stupid as you are, the little ones are shockingly far less capable than even you, so I don’t think they’ll be joining us, no.”  
Struggling through his injuries, eyes barely able to focus, the one that works anyway, the dark knight hauls himself up just enough to slump against the cold steel wall behind him. Bare rivets dig into his back, but more pain was closer to a drop in the ocean at this rate. It might just help him focus long enough to draw him out.  
“No, y’see what I think it is, Is that you’re just slipping. I mean the odds were always in my favor-“ Another cold hearted jab with the stick makes it feel like his leg has just explodes underneath of him. The splintered remains of the bone would probably never knit together properly. “-Besides, I think you’re losing it in your old age Bruce.” Barely suppressed glee danced just under the surface of his expression as The Riddler strained to take in every micro expression that might reveal the sting of the point that’d just been scored. Though he was obviously already congratulating himself on the victory, practically vomiting out the words ‘Don’t you want to know how I figured it out!?’ but that little game would derail them. The grey is starting to fade to black, there isn’t much time.  
“Actually, Edward, you might be right about my age getting the better of me” Okay, downplay his success; make him want to prove how great he is. “I always thought the challenges you set up were tough but fair… Feels like you cheated this time.”  
“Alright then, Mister Wayne, if you’re just going to be rude we can end this little tête-à-tête and be over with it, if you like.” The grin on his face sank into a remorseless sneer.  
‘Shit. He’s getting serious. Got to get him off guard.’  
“I just meant-“ He tried his best to crack a smile, though his mouth tasted like metal, so that must’ve been quite a sight. “-that I couldn’t get my head around your last riddle.”  
“Last? You think this is the end of things for more than just yourself?” The Riddler scoffed, spitting out the words. But there was an energy to his tone.  
“No. But it’s the last one that mattered.” Nigma’s blood must have run cold with that comment. Body language changed again. His pupils turned to pinpricks. Good. Last words to the dying need to be well thought out. ‘Make him gloat’. “Aft-AUGH-After all-” ‘Good, play up the pain…not that it’s hard’ “-you won’t be challenging me anymore.”  
“Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing, Batman. You want me to start monologing. I’m supposed to spill my guts before you do so you can have some sort of, what, Bat-radio transceiver hidden in your cowl to warn the good commissioner of my scheme? Got some sort of Bat-morphine in your little yellow belt to help you survive long enough to get stitched up? Hmmm? I’m dying to know what you’re planning as much as you are to know what I am. …Say something. Hey! Don’t just ignore me!”  
His own screaming wakes him up as much as the splintered bones did when a heel ground into his knee.  
“Wake up, damn you!”  
“S-sorry Ed. No more games. Lost…too much blood. No Bat-transfusion for this.”   
“Hah! So you were awake!” When the dark knight slumped over he was caught before he could hit the ground and shaken violently until a sharp intake of breath signaled consciousness.   
“Fine! You want to know what killed you? Other than yours truly of course? It was your own hubris. Couldn’t find the route language of the clues I’d left you? Did you really slip up and forget that some of the dustier forgotten languages read right to left? Idiot bat. The equation you thought you solved? You read it backwards! Had you an inkling of sense in that dome of yours you’d have been able to figure that one out and you might’ve kept some of that – eww – inside of your stupid caped guts. Happy now? Can you go to that gloomy skyscraper in the sky knowing how you failed?”  
“Heh. I’ll have to remember that for next time.”   
“The hell are you on about!?” The Dark Knight’s skull was gripped in desperate hands.  
“You weren’t the first to kill me, Ed. I will say though, you’ve got a better average than most.”  
“You’re delirious.”  
“No. I had to go back and learn so much to keep up with you. Really. You’re almost as smart as you think you are.” Nigma’s lips were a thin pale line. Must have figured last words were last words and he’d keep his mouth shut. At least if there was a chance he’d be complimented. “How many men do you think have mastered everything I have, Ed? Martial arts, stealth, invention, detective work? How many lifetimes of experience do you think that should take to learn?” His hands grip the green lapels like a vise. His fingers would probably break before they let go.  
“Well-“  
“Don’t bother answering. I’ve lost track. But you know, our world is bigger than you could ever know. Aliens, gods, reality is far more fragile than you know. Some versions of you wore tights, you know that? You wouldn’t remember. It was a different you.”  
“Now I know you’re too far gone.”  
“But I can make you remember. You learned my name and I can’t have that.”  
“Shouldn’t you have died by now! Pass out again!”  
“Soon enough. Then you’ll see. I doubt I’ll go back very far. I screwed up this time, but it was nothing big.”  
“Nothing big!? You’re dead, you idiot! You’re dead!”  
“Yeah.”

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

The world goes white. It’s always been that way. It’s been that way forever. Until it wasn’t. It had never been that way.  
“Wh- what? Where did he go!?” Edward Nigma had been sitting at the little office chair he’d set up at the end of the trapped tunnels. Batman should be arriving any- no, he was just…There’s a sound of breaking glass. That’s not right. There’s one explosion, then another.  
“Damn it, what!?” He rushed to the door the Batman had come through before. No bloody hand print, no pool of broken, defeated bat, no nothing! There’s a tap on his back. When he turns the world smells exactly the way a punch to the face always did.  
“Wha!? –How!?” He screeched, clutching at his broken face.  
“Did you think I could sit among gods, fight against forces bigger than the universe itself and not walk away changed?” Strong hands haul him bodily up from the floor, there’s no sign of injury on this bat.   
“And now you know who I am. How many times do you think you’ve survived that? How many times have I let you come back from the brink, howling and insane before the whole world started over again?”  
“Oh god.”  
“No. Just me.”


End file.
